Her secret
by damn-all-potatoes
Summary: Amu joined the pirates willingly, but she left something behind to do it. Something she doesn't talk about. Something precious.
1. Chapter 1

_The top of the barrel opened, and Amu found herself looking up at two faces. "Um, there's a girl in there, Russell." The red headed boy said. "What the hell…" the other replied, reaching a hand in._

_"What were you doing in there?" The red head, Thomas as she now knew, asked once they took her to the Doc. "I was hiding." She said without thinking, then mentally smacked herself. "From who?" the Doc asked her, putting a band aid on the knot on her head. "Some…bandits." She told him. "They were chasing me and I hid. I didn't mean to end up here."_

_"I didn't mean to end up here." She repeated about 10 minutes later to Captain Morgan. He laughed at her. "Too late for that now. I say you join us." She looked around at the different faces of the crew. 'Forgive me' she said to herself. "Then I guess I cant argue with that,"she agreed with him._

Amu awoke from her dream to footsteps on the stairs. "Amu~" Thomas said in his usual sing-song voice. "Nate asked for your help in the kitchen this morning." He said, bursting into her room without knocking like usual. She'd learned to change quick with her back to the door pretty quick.

And not to be easily embarrassed

"Ok, I'll be right up." She smiled at him, making her bed in a sloppy manner before running up the stairs.

She walked into the kitchen just as Nate was turning on the stove. "Hey, what are we having today?" she asked him, washing her hands. "I don't know, what do you want?" he asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

She giggled. "You know me, I love sweets." Nate gave her a rare smile. "Cinnomon rolls it is then." He said. Amu playfully smacked his arm. "You know me too well." She laughed.

"You've only been here two months, and it feels like you've always been part of the crew." He told her as they carried the dishes out to the rest of the crew. "He's right!" Russell said, grabbing two rolls at once. Amu smacked his hand. "Hey, share!" she yelled at him.

"See?" Captain and Eduardo yelled at once, causing everyone to break into laughter. "Shut up," Nate said as he walked back into the kitchen. "Or you're gonna choke on your food." Amu finished.

"Amu, can you help me clean the deck today?" Thomas asked her sweetly. "Sure, right after breakfast." She told him, making her own plate of food.

"Hey, you said that we were doing a sword lesson today!" Russell whined at her. Amu laughed. "I know, I didn't forget about you. After the deck, I'm helping Eduardo with mapping our new route, then helping Nate with lunch. After that, we will do our practice."

Captain laughed loudly. "You trying tto fit everyone of us in that schedule of yours Amu?" Amu took a bite of food. "I already did." She smiled. "After practice, you said you needed my help with a new girl of yours, then before bed I'm helping Doc count his supplies so he knows what to get at the next port."

"You really are amazing." Thomas said. When she smiled at him, he turned bright red and started shoveling food into his mouth. But Amu didn't seem to notice.

"Oh!" Amu yelled out surprised! "I almost forgot!" she got up from the table and ran into the kitchen. She opened up every cabinet, scanning them and counting on her fingers. "Yes!" she jumped up and down. "I got everything!"

She shoved Nate out of the kitchen. "Go eat," she told him. "I'm cleaning up today, and I also call making dinner tonight. _Alone_."

The entire crew starred between Nate and Amu. "Wait, she can do that?" Eduardo asked, his fork half way to his mouth. Nate never let anyone into the kitchen without him. Let alone cook by themselves.

But Nate just shrugged. "She's Amu, so I'll let her." He said, taking his seat and eating. "Wait," Russell said. "You didn't finish your ffood." Amu smiled indifferently. "That's ok, I'm not hungry." She told him, before prancing into the kitchen, leaving her almost full plate of food behind.

Amu kept her promises. She helped Thomas clean, Eduardo make the new chart, Nate make lunch, and was now on sword practice. "You're getting good." Russell told her.

Amu giggled. "Thanks," she said, blocking his sword. "It's 'cause I have a great teacher." Russell focused on his sword to stop from blushing. But because he focused to much, he forgot she was only a bigginer, and slashed out with a move she didn't know.

"Eek!" she screamed, letting go of her sword and dropping to one knee. "Amu, are you ok!?" Russell yelled, and Eduardo came running. "You idiot, what did you do!?" the navigator yelled at him. "I'm okay," Amu told them. "It just surprised me."

"Are you sure?" Russell asked. "Stop lying!" Eduardo suddenly yelled. "What's going on?" Nate said as he and Captain came over. "Russell here just tried to cut off Amu's hand!" he yelled, furious.

"I already told you I'm fine." Amu smiled up at them. Nate kneeled down by here. "If you're okay, then why are you dripping blood all over the deck?" he asked in a forced-calm voice. "It's just a little scratch." She reassured him. "From when I dropped my sword."

It was obvious that she was lying through her teeth, so Captain sighed. "Go see Doc," he said. "And you two, stop fighting."

Amu nodded, and ran off to see Doc.

"Hey Amu," Doc said, then saw her hand. "What did you do!?" he exclaimed, grabbing her hand and looking at the wound.

"I tried to sword fight with my hand." She giggled, wincing as Christaphor wipped off the blood. "You idiot, I'm going to have to give you stitches." He said. Amu laughed emptily. "It's not like it's the first time." She said.

Doc sighed. "You're right. This is the third time I've had to do it." He said. "Now tell me straight. You know don't you."

Amu batted her eyelashes, faking innocence. "Know what?" Doc gave her a bored look. "That they're all in love with you." She gave a soft smile.

"I do," she said.


	2. Chapter 2

Doc finished sewing up her hand, wrapped a bandage around it, and put it softly in her lap. "I knew you weren't nieve." He laughed. Amu smiled at him.

"When I came here, the ship I mean, I left my entire life behind. And something in that life was so precious that I shouldn't have left. But I did, because I wanted a new start. As a pirate. So I will not be some love stricken girl." She looked out the window to the sea as she talked.

"And if you fall in love with one of them?" he asked her, putting away his supplies. "Then, I will act on it. But unless I'm _sure_, I see nothing."

Doc chuckled. "So I see the real you." He said. "The real me, is the one who literally put all of you into me schedule today. The pirate-in-training that just cut her hand open practicing." Suddenly, the boat shook, causing her to fall over. She got up and smiled wickedly at Christopher. "The girl who's about to go kick some Rika ass."

Whenever the Rika pirates showed up, it was like someone putting in a well-watched movie. Allan jumped off, ready to fight, saw Amu, and spent the entire time trying to kiss her.

"Amu! I've come for you!" the idiot captain yelled, hugging her. "Aww, that's so sweet." She told him, rolling her eyes in the direction of Nathan. "If you dual me and win, I'll gladly join you." She told him in her best lovey-dovey voice.

"Oh, I see. You, of course, would only go for the strongest of pirates." Allan said. "I'll show you that I'm stronger than any of these usless Sirius pirates." Falling for the bait, Allan attacked. His fighting was so bad, that Amu had no trouble keeping up with him with her lack of skill.

That was, until she broke one of her stitches.

Then she resorted to more… _feminine_ advances.

She dropped her sword and took a step towards him. "Captain Allan, you're so stronge!" she told him, giving him a smile. He instantly fell for it. "Does that mean you'll join me?!" he asked, excitedly.

Amu put a hand on his chest and slowly backed him up. "Of course," she told him. "But you have to do one little thing for me first." He stopped backing up, his back now against the edge of the ship. "And what would that be my darling?" he asked, too love-struck to notice where he stood.

"Swim," she said, pushing him overboard.

"Captain Allan!" the "woman-gorilla" yelled, diving in after him. She was soon followed by her brother and the two skinny twins.

The Sirius pirates clapped. "Good job, Amu!" Thomas yelled. "Come one, Amu!" Doc said, grabbing her hand. "I just did thoughs stitches." She shrugged, "Sorry Doc." She said.

"Hey, Captain!" she called to him. "What?" he asked, taking a swig from his bottle of alcohol. "_That's_ your way to get that girl of yours." She told him. He laughed, and told her he'd use it next time he saw her.

"It's dinner time!" she yelled, running towards the kitchen. She paused at the door. "I'll fillet anyone who comes within 10 feet of the kitchen!" she yelled at them before disappearing down the stairs. "And she really will," Laughed Eduardo.

That night, upon Amu's instructions, the crew was waiting on the deck to eat. "Ready?" she called out to them. "Ready!" they hollered back. By herself, dish by dish, she carried out a TON of food. After the second to last dish, Russell noticed something.

"Hey, these are all Nate's favorite dishes." Amu giggled. "Ya, they are." She said. "Cause…" she went back inside one more time. "It's his birthday!" she said, coming back with a cake.

Nate blanched. "You remembered?" he asked, taking the cake from her. She smiled. "Of course I did, I know all of your guys' birthdays." Amu said, grinning.

That night's dinner was the most fun they'd had in a long time, and that was saying a lot, seeing as they were ALWAYS having fun.

And the next day, everything went downhill.

Amu's hand was so sore the next day, Nate bopped her on the head and told everyone to not let her do anything all day because of it.

That in itself wouldn't be so bad. But Amu kept trying to help out anyways.

It was 3 in the afternoon, and Captain had given her lookout-duty just to keep her busy. She was getting really bored, when she saw something in the distance. For a moment, she thought it was the Rika. But the sails didn't look right.

It wasn't the Rika. It was…

"THE NAVY!" she screamed, jumping off the lookout tower. "The Navy's coming!" The entire crew ran on deck.

"Crap," Captain said. "Eduardo, get us out of here. Russell, Doc; get the cannons ready. Amu, Thomas and Nate, you guys tie down anything you don't want rolling around.

Even with all of their efforts, the Navy was on them in no time. Doc made Amu go up to the wheel because she couldn't fight with her hand injured. So, she stood there, calling out helpful hints to the crew. The battle was so intense though, no one noticed that she stopped yelling them out.

Finally, the navy retreated. But all of a sudden…

"Where's Amu?" Nate asked. "WHERE IS AMU?" the crew searched, but didn't find her. The Captain looked off into the distance. "Eduardo, follow the navy."

"Amu's been kidnapped."


	3. Chapter 3

"What the hell was that for, Leonadro?!" Amu yelled at the man, storming into his cabin. "What do you _mean_ 'what was that for?'" he said, putting down his cat.

"I mean, that you know down right that I purposefully joined the Sirius crew, so why did you kidnap me!" The Navy captain (Sorry if I got this wrong, I can't remember his ranking) sighed. "I didn't tell anyone, as I promised, but Duke Burk came to the castle, on his usual "Marry me" quest, was told that you disappeared, and sent _me_ to find you."

Amu groaned and slumped into a chair.

Amu had purposefully walked away from her life, with only few knowing. They'd just decided it would be easier to say she "unexplainably disappeared" than to tell the public she'd gone to join pirates. Duke Burk being the man with the biggest mouth on the planet, _obviously_ he couldn't be told.

"Fine, fine." She said finally. "They're going to come get me, anyways. Tell him either you couldn't find me or that I was kidnapped by merchants or something." Leonardo smiled. "Always like that, aren't you Amu? Always with a plan of attack. Just like my Mew-Mew…"

Amu got up and left as soon as Leo went into his usual blabbering about his weird cat.

She walked along the ship, pretending not to noticed the men bowing to her as soon as she came into sight. It was a bother. Amu wished Joana was on board, and she was sad that she wasn't going to get to see him. Not unless she went back home, and she wasn't prepared to do that yet.

Not with the Sirius Pirates following her.

"When I do go home for a visit, I'll tell them I'm going on vacation. I can't have them following me there." She said, talking out loud to herself. She leaned over the railing, wishing she was on the much-more-comfortable Sirius with her friends instead of the Navy's piece-of-junk one.

"Hurry up, guys." She said into the wind.

"Hurry up, guys!" Captain Morgan yelled at his crew. The ship was catching up to the Navy already, but they had to prepare for another fight. "She's waiting for us," Christopher said, surprising Morgan.

"I know." The pirate king said, looking out in the direction of the Navy. "She's not ready to go home yet,"

"There they are!" Russell shouted from the lookout. The navy ship was now just barely in sight. "Prepare yourselves!" Captain shouted, retreating into his cabin for the time being.

Shortly after the crew saw the Navy, Amu saw them.

_Now to just slow us down. _ She thought to herself. She looked over at Leo, who was standing next to her. "Hey, I'm going to go take a nice stroll to the boiler room. Want to join?" she asked him in a mockingly sweet voice.

Leo raised an eyebrow, looked at the pirate ship, and shrugged. "Sure, why not." He said, putting Mew-Mew down on the railing and following her towards the stairs.

When they got to the boiler room, Leo took care of the guard. "The young lady would like to know how the ship runs," he said, quickly and fluently making up a lie. "Please excuse us." The empty-headed boiler room guard nodded and walked out, not thinking it strange that a Captain was showing a girl the boiler room.

"Oh dear, I slipped," Amu said sarcastically, pulling a tube out of the wall. The boiler immediately started to steam, and they ran from the room.

"Crew!" Leo yelled, frantically. "There's a problem with the boiler! Stop all engines and fix it!" The crew, who turned out to be stupider than they looked, turned off the engines and ran below deck to the room to see what was the problem.

"Thanks a lot, Leo" Amu said as the Navy Captain shut and locked the door. He grinned at her. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I am currently being attacked by pirates." He said, laughing. It took no more than 10 minutes of fake fighting with Leo before pirate ship pulled up beside them.

Amu pushed Leo to the ground, ran at the side of the ship and jumped across to the Sirius. Eduardo and Doc caught her, just as the crew of the Navy broke out from the room.

"The princess is being kidnapped by pirates!" one of them yelled, loud enough for the _entire_ Sirius crew to hear. Looking around at her friends, she mentally face palmed. "Help me!" She screamed dramatically at the Navy, before pretending to faint into Doc's arms.

*So, one cat is out of the bag. What do you think about it? Review so that the other cats can start escaping too!*


	4. Chapter 4

"P…p…princess?!" Thomas yelled, starring at her. The looks on the crew members faces were almost identicle. Captain Morgan and Amu looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

"You should see your selves," Amu said, gasping for breath. "Priceless," Morgan agreed.

The crew looked at each other. Then they ganged up on Captain. "You knew?!" Russell yelled. "Captain, that's not very nice of you to keep secrets." Doc said, nodding. "Hey, it wasn't me!" Morgan protested, holding his hands up in surrender.

Amu jumped up on the side of the ship, holding a rope for support. "He's right, guys." She said looking at them with a smile. Everyone turned to look at here.

"I'm no princess. Somebody I was close to was royalty. I was close to his family, so I was considered so too. And when he died, his uncle – the king of Polda – brought me into their family officially. But, I wasn't use to it. Not built for it." She said, looking off into the distance.

"Then, you guys came to Polda. And the king got Captain to find someone who had been kidnapped. I met him – I begged him myself to save for him to save Joana – and I realized that I really wanted to leave. Arnie, the king, realized that. And he let me go.

But because I was considered royalty, I couldn't just go off and be a pirate. So they said I was missing." Amu turned back to the crew. "Almost funny, isn't it?" she asked.

Nathan stepped forward, looking at her seriously. "It doesn't matter. You're a pirate now, not a princess." He said. It was simple, but it had been what Amu needed and wanted to hear for a long time. Grinning, she jumped off the railing of the ship and tackled him in a hug.

"Hey, no fair," Eduardo said, looking down at them. Amu had literally made Nate fall over backwards and had landed on top of him. And, just as she always was, she wasn't embarrassed in the least. "We're supposed to have a chance too." But he didn't really sound all that concerned.

"So, now that we have our Princess back, let's celebrate." Captain said, laughing again.

That night, as they ate outside, both Nathan and Morgan knew that, under that smiles and giggles Amu gave out, she was plotting something.

It was a look in her eyes. One that Nate had learned when she had arranged for herself to make him his birthday dinner. And one that Captain knew from when she had not only talked him into saving Joana, but had gotten him to take her with him.

The others were idiotically clueless. Amu saw the difference between the unknowing looks she got from the crew and the suspicious ones she got from captain and Nate. She sighed to herself. 'Its not like it can be helped' she thought, and decided to just enjoy the night.

The next week went like normal. Thomas told her who need what before breakfast, and then they argued over who needed Amu's help for what. She'd spend the day helping Nate cook, and the guys with their chores and the Captain with his girls.

It was the end of the second week, and other than a few jokes or questions every now and then, the crew had almost forgotten Amu was a princess.

It was just before dinner when Amu slipped into Captains office. "I need your help with something." She told him. He looked up at her from his desk. "And what would that be?" he said, curious. She sat down on his desk. "I need your help to sneak out."


	5. Chapter 5

Dinner went slowly. As in, it didn't go at all. The crew couldn't find Amu anywhere. Or Captain for that matter.

"Where could she be?!" Nate exclaimed, looking at the others. Thomas had an idea. "Maybe she's in Captain's cabin! The door is locked, so he's in there." Eduardo leaned in. "But, if she's in there with the Captain, and the door is locked…"

The crew stopped for a moment. "Eww, no!" Thomas cried out, looking horrified. "Amu would never do that!"

Suddenly, Captain came out of his room. "What are you doing?" he asked the crew as they watched, seeing if Amu would come out as well. They were somewhat glad when she didn't, but that just meant she was missing…AGAIN.

"Have you seen Amu?" Doc asked him. Morgan crossed his arms, looking at them. "As a matter of fact, I have." Nate sighed in relief. "Where is she?" Captain shrugged. "She went on vacation."

The crew did a synchronized jaw drop that was so good, they must have been practicing. "What?" Captain said, walking passed them and into the kitchen to look for food. "What do you mean, vacation?" Nate asked him.

"I _mean_ vacation. As in, she was tired from working so much, she needed a break." Doc thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "That would make since except for the fact that she didn't tell any of us. SO that means this wasn't planned and she doesn't want us knowing."

Captain looked at them with a stern face. "That's right. She doesn't want you knowing. So leave her be." Nate glared at him. "You don't get food until you let us go look for her." Captain's stern face fell into defeat.

"Well, I tried but I just can't keep information from you." He sighed. _What the hell? He didn't even try NOT to tell us_ the entire crew thought. "She went home."

"Home? As in, large palace, castle home?" Thomas asked. "But there's no way she'd go there willingly!" he yelled when Captain nodded. "She must have been tricked!" Russell agreed. Nate nodded too. "We need to go save her."

_These idiots_, Captain thought, looking at them. _Lets have some fun_. "Oh, I didn't think of that!" he said, acting shocked. "I think you're right. We shall head to the castle tomorrow!"

The crew agreed, ate and went to bed without even suspecting Captain. _This is too easy_, Captain though, laughing once he was back in his room.

The next morning, after breakfast, the Sirius Pirates headed out. Captain gave them the name of the castle, and they spent till noon asking around for information.

Then, they met back up at a bar.

"What have we learned?" Captain asked them. They spit out the information that they had gathered, which didn't turn out to be a lot. They'd gotten the location and that princess Amu lived there, but that was basically it, other than some up coming parade in a week or two.

"Alright, alright." Captain said. "Lets just get there. Then we'll figure out what to do." He said. He was almost getting tired of messing with them. _Almost._

They got to the front gates of the castle in less than an hour. "What do we do now?" Eduardo asked. "Just walk in the front doors?" Captain walked up and pushed on the front door. It swung open without hesitation. "I guess so," Thomas said, laughing.

They snuck in, their footsteps sounding too loud as they echoed on the marble floor. They came to the first door of the main hallway, and stopped to listen.

"Duke Burk, if my niece says she wishes not to marry, then I can't say anything against her." A lordly voice said, sounding slightly amused. "But My Lord, she is 22! She should be…" Looking through the crack in the door, the crew saw that the king raised his hand.

"Amu has already been married, and is now widowed. She has no obligations to remarry. And that it that." The king said. Nate could have sworn that he saw the King look at them.

"Now, Amu has requested you not speak to her today. SO don't go near the 3rd floor, seeing as her room is the third on the left." The king said. There was no mistake about it, hhe winked at the crew!

"We'll boys, we know where she is, now lets go get her!" Captain said, and they all ran towards the 3rd floor.

They didn't care how loud their footsteps were anymore, and that meant anyone could hear them from a mile away. As they reached the top of the stares at a run, they couldn't have taken more than three steps before one of the doors swung open and Amu stepped out.

"Amu!" The crew cried, waving at her.

She turned to look at them, but instead of smiling, she took a huge breath and screamed:

"You idiots!"


	6. Chapter 6

"You idiots!" Amu screamed at them. They all froze in shock.

"You bastard of a Captain," she hissed, glaring at Morgan. "You promised to keep them away! I only wanted 2 days at home, and you couldn't even give me that?!"

Nate stepped forward. "But if you wanted days at home, you should have just told us." Amu shook her head, still mad. "You would have come with me, wouldn't you?" she asked him. He thought about it for a moment. "Well, yeah, but…"

Amu pointed at him. "See?! I didn't _want_ anyone to come!" The crew looked shocked. "But why?" Thomas asked her.

"I just wanted a little time alone. Without explaining," she said, her anger turning into sorrow.

"We heard, that you had a husband." Eduardo said, his voice laced with sympathy. Amu smiled, though it was empty. "Once, I did. But he died, almost three years ago."

A door behind her opened, and they all turned to look.

A small boy stepped out, and looked at them surprised. "Hey, isn't that the kid you saved last year?" Russell asked the captain, pointing at him with his sword.

At the sight of the weapon, the boy burst into tears.

"Look what you've done now, Russell!" Eduardo said, slapping his arm. "Mommy!" the child whimpered and….ran straight to Amu. "What? That isn't your..." Nate started to say, but he was stopped by a look from Captain.

"Oh, I'm sorry Joana." Amu said, picking him up. The kid sniffled and hugged her. Then he pointed at them. "Who are they, mommy?" he asked.

Captain walked up. "Hey, Joana. Remember me?" he asked, patting his head. Joana shook his head no. Morgan laughed. "That's ok, you were pretty young." The crew starred at them. Joana looked at them, then smiled like a Halloween pumpkin.

"It's my birthday!" He told them. "Mommy came home for my birthday!"

Amu laughed and put him down. "Of course I did. I told you so, didn't I?" Joana nodded and spun in a circle. ""I didn't know if you'd remember, though." He told her. "Now that you're a pirate." Amu laughed at him. "Of course I remembered!"

Morgan kneeled down in front of him. "Your dad was a prince, and your mom's a pirate. Do you know what that makes you?" Joana shook his head no, looking at Morgan with eyes that said he wanted to though.

"That makes you a Pirate Prince." He said. Joana smiled. "Does that mean I can be a pirate one day too?!" he asked. Morgan glanced at Amu to make sure he wouldn't get her mad, but she just laughed. "Of course it does," Morgan told the boy.

"Only if you're okay with letting your cousin be king." Amu said, though she doughted he'd have a problem with it.

Joana ran over to the rest of the crew. "I know you! I know you!" he told them, jumping up and down. "Oh, really?" Russell asked, amused. "Then who are we?"

Joana pointed at Russell. "You're Russell, the one with two swords. You train Mommy and you're like a little kid." The pirate look horrified, but the others laughed. Joana's finger moved to a new target. "You're Doc! You're really nice and fix people up, and you're best friends with the Captain."

Christopher laughed at the boy. "You got that right," he said. Next was the red-head. "You're Thomas. You're the youngest, but you acct older. You clean things, and make everyone feel better.

"And you're Eduardo. You act mean, but you're really nice. And you have a crush on Russell." Mr. Eye-patch turned a bright red color and glared at the boy. "N…no! Where do you get an imagination like that!" Everyone but Russell and Eduardo chuckled. "And _you're_ Nate! My Mommy is in l…"

Suddenly, Amu picked up Joana. "Okay, that's enough for now." She told him, her face as red as Eduardo's. "What is going on here?!" a voice yelled from behind the crew. Everyone turned to see…

Duke Burk, standing wide-eyed at the top of the stairs.


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, so I want to thank AniaMaria2000 for a ton of help on the plot. You'll see her great ideas in the next few chapters. And sorry for the wait. I was at my grandma's and I didn't have my computer.

"Duke Burk!" Amu yelled, startled at his sudden appearance. She put Joana down, but he quickly hid behind her leg. She'd forgotten he was completely scared of the Duke. Mostly because he had a "bad man mustache," When she'd asked him what that was, he said all his movies had a bad guy, and they all had that mustache.

She found it quite funny.

"Amu, I came to talk some since into you, but…" he stared at the Sirius Pirates. "Who are these people?" he asked her.

Russell laughed. "Look at this guy. He doesn't even know who we are and he's already quaking in his boots!" Morgan shook his head. "Some guys just can't take no for an answer." Amu raised an eyebrow. "Like you, you mean?" she asked him, and look offended.

"Duke Burk, these_ idiots _are the Sirius pirates." She said, getting several _Hey_'s from her friends. The man that called himself a noble, she knew, was a complete coward.

For a second, he stared at the pirates. The, he turned around and ran down the stairs screaming like a little girl.

"Bye, bye," Joana said, waving after the man. The crew, who had been quiet until then, burst out laughing. Thomas even fell over, he was laughing so hard. "You guys!" Amu said, trying to sound stern, but her tough act was ruined by her laughter.

After the Sirius pirates caught their breath, Amu took them down to meet her uncle, the King. He was both amused and impressed by them, and invited them – more like told them – to come to Prince Joana's 4th birthday dinner that night.

They were somewhere between nervous and overly excited. It wasn't everyday that pirates were invited to dinner with a king.

Joana and Thomas both kept trying to eat the different desserts and puddings on the table, causeing Amu to chide them and slap their hands away. It didn't end until well after dark, when Joana finally fell asleep in his chair.

Amu took him to bad. "Are you ready to go?" Eduardo asked her as she came out of the room. "Come on guys, can't we leave tomorrow. I didn't even get to say good bye to him," she said, giving them a look that told them they would be better off to give her what she wanted than to try to fight her.

Captain cleared his throat. "Well, I guess staying one night wouldn't hurt," he said, looking at the floor. The crew hurredly agreed with him, causing Amu to smile.

The next morning, after the fanciest breakfast they had ever had, came the screaming. Joana could be heard throughout the entire castle. "I'm sorry, honey, but you can't come with me," Amu said, pleading with the boy. "I want to come too Mommy!" he screamed. "I want to be a pirate too!"

The little boy would simply not give up the fight until his uncle, the king, stepped in. "Say goodbye to your mom, Joana," the gentle man said to the boy. "She's leaving no matter how much you yell and holler, and you know you want to say bye."

The four-year-old caved in and hugged his mother, saying goodbye's and i-love-you's.

Walking away from the castle, the crew felt a little guilty. "Is he going to be okay?" Morgan asked Amu. She gave him a pissed off look. "Just wait. This isn't over just yet. My uncle has something up his sleeve, I just know it.


	8. Chapter 8

As soon as the ship was sailing away, Amu started to feel better. Her Uncle had obviously had a plan, but seeing as neither he nor her son were anywhere near their ship, it hadn't seemed to work.

Or that's what she thought.

Amu helped Nate make lunch. As usual, the close-quarter space made her blush as if she'd gotten a fever. "If you cut the potatoes like that, you'll cut off your fingers!" the cook scolded her, leaning in and putting his hand over hers. "You chop _away_ from yourself, ya idiot."

Amu hardly heard a word he'd said, because her blood was boiling and pounding in her ears. She simply nodded and chopped the potatoes the way he'd showed her.

After that, it was sword practice. _At least that can't go too badly_, Amu thought to herself. Thomas, being the absolute biggest idoit in the world, left the deck soaking wet from when he'd washed it. That meant, when she and Russell were fighting, she just HAD to slip on a puddle and fall.

Fortunately, or more likely _unfortunately, _Russell managed to catch her before she hit the ground. But he did so with his face almost touching hers!

He stood her back on her feet, his face redder than Thomas's after too much wine, and mumbled something about finishing practice later before running off.

Confused, Amu went to find Captain.

As usual, he was drunk nearly off his ass. "Oh, hey, it's Amu!" He said giddily, and tried to pull her onto his lap. "Captain!" she yelled at him, though he didn't seem to hear her. _Damn his selective hearing_, she thought, cursing her own stupidity and carelessness.

"Now captain," Doc's voice came from the doorway. "That's not how you treat a lady. Espetially a princess." He took hold of Amu's hand and pulled her away from the drunk womanizer, an amused smile on his face.

"Amu," he said, once they were away from the captain "We seem to have a slight problem." Amu raised a curious eyebrow at him. "What would that be?" she asked.

Doc lead her into the infirmary and pointed at the bed. Sitting on it, seeming quiet happy with himself, was… "JOANA!" Amu yelled, shocked. Swinging his legs, looking very pleased with himself, sat her 4-year-old prince of a son. He grinned at her, jumping up to give her a hug.

Then, taking a huge breath, he screamed "Mommy has a boyfriend!" and took off out the door.

Amu and Doc starred at each other for a moment, surprised, then ran after him. Joana was running around the deck, yelling "Mommy has a boyfriend" to anything and everything he could find: the seagulls, the waves, and the crew!

Captain ruffled the little prince's hair adoringly. "Thanks, squirt," he said. "But they already know about us." Amu gave him a hard stare, but didn't even have time to open her mouth before Thomas let out an embarrassed grunt.

"If anyone was dating Amu, I'd be me!" the red head said, loudly, then blushed as he thought about what he'd said. Doc made a exasperated sound. "As if she'd go for any of you numskulls. Joana there probably just mistook me and Amu's close friendship as more than it was."

The crew argued among them selfves for a few moments, while Amu looked on, amused.

"Why don't you just ask him?" she put in. The crew froze, starring at her. Once her words sunk in, they all turned to ask the kid at the same time…only to see that her wasn't there anymore. In their bickering, only Amu had noticed her son's sneaky get away.

"Oh, dear. If you don't find him before dinner, I'm sure he'll forget. He does that, being a child and all. Then you'll NEVER know." Amu said dramatically, laughing as the entire crew – minus Doc – ran off to find the prince.

"So who do you think Joana ACTUALLY thought was your boyfriend?" Doc asked her, crossing his arms over his chest. "Oh, probably my boyfriend," Amu said with a cheaky smile as she walked off. "Oh, that makes since…WAIT, you have a boyfriend!?" Doc yelled, running after her.

"Don't be an idiot!" she told him laughing. "I only _wish_ he was my boyfriend," she told him, knowing it woldn't help in the least.

"So which one of us is it?" Doc asked curiously. Amu shrugged innocently. "I guess you'll have to find Joana to find out." She said. She hadn't taken more than three steps before Doc was gone.

"Oh, I just love messing with these idiots," Amu smiled.


	9. Chapter 9

9

The crew spent over an hour searching for Joana. When they all finally ended up in the dining room, they found Amu and her son eating dinner.

"Any one hungry?" she asked them, amused. They burst out in complaints and arguments, which were stopped abruptly when Joana started crying.

"Ok, time for bed." Amu said, picking him up. "I want my new daddy to put me to bed," Joana said sleepily. The lady-pirate blushed a bright red as she looked at the crew. "How about he puts you to bed tomorrow night?"

Joana agreed and Amu hurried off to put him to bed in the infirmary, seeing as that was the only empty bed.

When she came back in, the entire crew was waiting for her. "Are you going to tell us now?" Doc asked, his arms crossed. "Tell you what?" Amu asked, trying to feign innocence. "Don't give us that, just tell us." Eduardo said coldly, only causing her to roll her eyes.

"So you want to know, do you?" she asked teasingly. "Yes," they all said. "Are you sure?" "Yes," "Are you really, really sure?"

**"YES!"**

Amu smirked, walked straight up to Nathan, and kissed him.

"There you go," she told them, before leaving the room.

After a minute of starring after her, Nathan got up and ran after her with a smile on his face.


End file.
